Beneath the Blackened Sky
by inkexpression
Summary: [Somewhat of an AU, as Percy, Annabeth and Nico are on the Argo II but Jason already knows Nico's secret] Jason notices more and more how the son of Hades goes unnoticed by the rest of the group, and wants to extend his friendship. One night adventure (disaster) later ends up falling in favor of Jason's plot, to Nico's dismay. They might even make it to morning. Friendly Jasico.
1. Chapter 1

All the seven sat around the dining table, sharing stories of the past day. Like every other in the lives of demigods, this one had been quite eventful.

They'd had to split up in the morning, fighting different enemies that were set on hindering their journey east. This one had been a coordinated attack, or just really bad luck, and different monsters had attacked them all at once from different angles. It was a long, long day for them all, and the mood generally reflected the relief that it was over.

As it was, they were smiling and chatting amongst themselves. None of them were dead yet, and that alone was enough.

The room was out of its normal state tonight, due to something Leo had muttered about rerouting the energy supply. But the walls were blank and bore nothing but a creamy olive color. It was unobtrusive and pleasant in the background of what he thought of as a family meal, so he didn't really mind it. It was nice, and kind of homey. The table was adorned with food, stretching between Greek and Roman. And, he noted wryly, a touch of Percy-ish additions, such as Coke, somehow blue, and pizza.

Unfortunately everything that he wanted was on the other side of the long table, so he had to get up and voyage over to the far regions to collect his meal. He surveyed the others' pleasant exchanges on his way, and everything was calm and easy. For once.

Jason liked the tone. It was nice to finally relax. When the empousai attacked from below that morning, he was paired with Leo and Hazel to go after them. It was a long fight, mostly because the stupid vampire-cyborg-donkey women would attack them and flee, only to come back if they were not defeated. He'd had to chase them down eventually and send them back to Tartarus before they caused any serious damage.

The stories just from that long day alone would fill an entire dinner's conversation, and he was sure that the same was true for the others' adventures. The only perforations in chatter was laughter and reflection.

He sat down with his second helping of the traditional hybrid Roman-Greek dinner, placing himself between Piper and an empty chair. He could see Hazel across the table exchanging the day's tales with Frank, and Leo, surprisingly, talking with Percy. He'd liked cooperating with the two of them, and they worked well together, despite being hastily assembled at the last minute. Annabeth, on Percy's other side, was occupying Piper's attention with cornucopia battle strategies. Everyone seemed content.

That is, except the short teen with a thin frame hidden by a thick aviator jacket, leaning against the corner and skirting the edge of everyone's attention. When he first noticed him, Jason only dared to look at Nico through his peripheral vision, examining the younger son of Hades. It didn't seem like anyone else even noticed that he was in the room.

He hadn't come in to dinner with the rest of them, assumedly still tucked away in his room or slumped somewhere in the higher workings of the ship. Jason didn't know how long exactly he'd been in the dining room, but he must've shadow traveled in rather recently.

He looked at the empty seat at his side, and then to Nico. The younger demigod averted his eyes and pretended not to see the invitation to join the group. It wasn't much of a surprise.

For the past day or so, Nico had this aura about him that was even more sullen and rigid than normal. It dissuaded most of Jason's attempts at enacting, or enforcing, in some cases, the friendship he decided they would share. Nico apparently did not want his camaraderie, but that was only because he didn't know how to be nice. Yet. He would warm up soon enough, Jason was sure.

But lately he'd been more distant than usual. When it came time to fight today, he'd ended up alone, facing several unfriendly hellhounds. Nico could've handled them fine, had they not been on an airship over a large body of water. But it wasn't so easy to use his Child of Hades powers when surrounded by the most offensive elements to them, and he'd been pushed into the water.

Jason saw it happen but couldn't help at all, as he'd been saving Leo from getting his head thrashed off. That was early in the day, before everyone split apart. A minute after Nico went in, he came back up on a column of earth from the sea floor, still fighting. Jason had few moments where he felt relieved as he had been then. Jupiter or not, he would have jumped into the deadly water after the boy if the resurgence hadn't happened sooner.

Percy and the rest were still busy on the boat then. But Jason knew that from their view, at least a few of them could've seen Nico go down. He was sure they had their reasons for not jumping in. He was sure Percy wouldn't brush Nico aside.

And even here at dinner, no one saw the pale demigod in the corner, halfway into the shadows, but Jason. And that just made him feel a little sad. Because without him, this is how it always was for Nico. He was always brushed to the side and made to fend for himself.

This only made Jason more determined to have Nico as his friend. He would show this boy happiness, he would swear that much to any god.

He gestured more prominently for Nico to come join them at the table, turning and looking at him, waving his arm. Even then, only Hazel stopped and saw the eighth demigod in the corner. She smiled at him and Jason and went back to taking to Frank when he demanded her attention.

"Hey, come on over here. It's not like there isn't another seat."

Nico grunted and a minute pout formed on his features. He shifted a little ways forward, like he wanted to come, but leaned back again. Jason frowned. It was time to be stern with this little brat.

"Come here, Nico. Don't make me go and get you."

Now his target had the proper look of terror. That was closer, he guessed. Baby steps.

"Jason I am perfectly fine right where I am. Just let me be."

At least now, the whole table was aware of the two of them, even if they still weren't the main focus. The controversy earned only a few acknowledging glances and then people when back to their own conversations. This was nothing out of the ordinary for them, of course. Nico would hardly ever eat at all, let alone come to the table.

And still, Nico refused to move. Clearly drastic measures had to be taken.

Jason rose from his seat, silencing a couple of the conversations around them and attracting the attention of everyone, at least giving them all pause. They brushed it off, and continued what they were saying. Jason very distinctly heard Piper say something about him huffily to Annabeth.

Nico stood perfectly still in the corner, eyeing him with suspicion and a hint of fear. He wasn't sure yet if he should take Jason seriously enough to flee the room. Jason had no intention of giving him that opportunity. He dashed the last couple steps and closed the gap between them, grabbing a hold of Nico's arm just as the other one was melting into the shadows.

But Jason was too late, and Nico took them both into the darkness.

**So that was chapter 1. Chapter 2 can be expected within the week, as I want to get this done before BoO comes out. **

**See you then.**


	2. Chapter 2

Jason's senses were thrown immediately into chaos. It was as if he no longer had a body or senses at all, just the course, flowing feeling of shadow. It overpowered him, the cool shift of the shadows, though his nature as a son of Jupiter fought against it. He remembered shadow-traveling from prior experience, but he would never get used to it. Hades and Jupiter were about as far apart in essence as two beings could be.

And in the few moments he was stuck in shadow, his sight was gone, replaced by darkness, his hearing was muffled and confused, and the only touch he could feel was Nico's elbow, still encased in his hand. He tightened that connection, not wanting to somehow be left behind in this strange and hostile plane.

Finally, they emerged. The surge of returning senses felt like all of his limbs had fallen asleep with pins and needles, and even the dim evening light was bothersome to his eyes.

While he was recuperating, Nico turned to face him and spoke.

"Grace. Why…" He stopped there and sighed. "No, of course you would do something like this. But you shouldn't have come."

Finally feeling normal again, Jason stood at his full height in front of Nico. He was almost a foot taller than the kid, but he was unsure if using that against Nico would be to his advantage. He decided not.

"Hey, I told you to call me Jason. We're friends, and that means it's a first name basis. Got it?"

"I never consented to being your friend, _Grace_. Now listen to me, you really should not have come along, the others-"

"I'm not going to take you seriously until you use my first name."

"What. No. Listen, this is a kind of dangerous place and… What are you doing."

Jason held his hands against his ears and pursed his lips, eyes playing with childish delight and daring Nico to continue.

"Gods, you're so immature. You know that?"

Jason stuck his tongue out at Nico through a smile.

"Erghh. Jason. There. Now just, stop that. You're making people stare."

Jason didn't particularly mind (even though, now that he looked around, they were situated on a semi-populated city street. It looked foreign to him, with cobblestoned streets and quaint buildings lining each side.) But he had won the battle of wills once again. All he needed was to keep winning these minor battles, and eventually he would succeed in his quest for friendship, and, subsequently, Nico's happiness.

At least, that's how it played out in his head. It seemed like a good plan, though.

"Okay, I'll just drop you off back on the ship and it'll be fine."

"What do you mean, 'drop me off'? Aren't you coming back too?"

"Yes, I'm coming back, it's not like I would run away or anything. I just need a few hours. Alone."

"Nico, you don't-"

"No room for argument. I like being alone." His tone was harsh and distant, like a line he'd rehearsed. It was meant to scare people off.

"Nico, as your elder and partial commander, I order you to-"

"_Jason_."

"…Let me stay here with you until you want to come back."

"No. They need you aboard the ship. You can't just be gone without explanation for a night."

"They'll manage. Percy and Annabeth form a really good leadership, and Leo can take care of the ship better than I could. And you're part of the crew, too."

"What if something attacks the ship?"

"Monster attacks have been slowing down lately. The one today seemed like a ragtag group of what was left that they could spare. No, it seems that they're mostly too occupied in Greece right now to send too many hazards our way."

"And what if I just don't want you here?"

"Then I would be obliged to enforce my presence."

Nico and he had been getting closer and closer in each other's faces as the arguing continued, and by this point they had less than two feet between them. Nico's eyes twitched and his jaw tightened. Jason could see somewhat of an angry pout beginning to form on his pale lips again. It was adorable and he couldn't help but smile.

Nico huffed and pulled away dramatically, turning his face away from Jason.

"You're too freaking persistent. Alright, you can tag along. Just don't disturb me, whatever your morals should suggest."

"This is already sounding like fun."

Nico turned the rest of his body and began walking down the street without another word. Jason followed along behind him.

Daylight was already almost completely gone, and dusk was well under way. The streets quickly dispersed of the few remaining souls, leaving them mostly vacant. Nico seemed to know what he was doing, though.

He turned abruptly into a darkened building that was pushed back a little from the main road. It was three stories high and narrow in build, only fitting one or two thin windows on the front wall of each level. The grey paint was old and peeling, and all of the windows were dark and, on closer examination, filled with cobwebs. It was clearly abandoned, but that didn't mean it was up for public use.

"Nico, are you trespassing?"

"I told you not to interfere. And no, I am not trespassing."

"Then how-"

"Shush. You can stay out here if you want."

Nico produced a key from a window box, opened the door, and melted into the house's dark interior. Jason hesitated for a moment, then followed.

Once his eyes adjusted, he could see that the inside of the building was much like the outside; outdated and unkempt. Not to mention the chill or dusty shadows. This place hadn't been lived in for a long time.

Nico stayed only a short length ahead of him, like a silent and very unhelpful tour guide. He glanced around some more and looked down again, only to be thrown suddenly off guard. The dark head he'd been following disappeared, and not two seconds after he realized this he tripped on a floorboard and almost fell on his face. His head bobbed around, searching in the dim light for the younger demigod.

He found him collapsed in an old armchair, breathing heavily with closed eyes.

"Nico!"

"Not so loud. I just need a rest… I wasn't expecting to be taking a visitor with me and it drained more energy than I would've liked. I'll be fine in a few minutes."

"Just taking me drained you that much? …How far did we go?"

"Southern Austria."

"Nico, why are we in Austria," he said in a deadpan. It was less of a question and more of a tired obligation. He didn't have the stamina to question Nico's motives anymore; he could only follow along and hope that he could understand the son of Hades, someday.

"My family spent holidays here when I was very young, and one time that I can remember. This house is actually still in the family's possession today, even though I'm the only one left to come here."

Jason didn't know how to respond to that. It was very rare that Nico said anything about his past or his family. Jason felt a little happy just knowing that he was able to learn these things about his companion.

Nico was silent for a few more moments, and Jason cast a worried glance at the younger boy. If he fell asleep here, he would have no way to get back to the others until he woke up. Jason felt for the first time how reliant he was on someone else in this situation.

Nico alleviated his fears with one halfway lifted eyelid.

"Stop looking over here. It's weird. Just go and entertain yourself with the dust bunnies or something. I won't fall asleep with you. Wait," Nico's face tinged with pink. "That came out wrong. Just, uh, go… somewhere over there." He motioned in a random direction with his hand.

Jason sniggered as he obeyed. Nico's blush was really cute.

"Stop that!" The Ghost King's voice cracked with embarrassment. "Grace!"

"Jason!" He corrected, calling behind him on his way 'somewhere over there'.

It was developing to be an interesting night.

**One more chapter to go, where things will be wrapped up. Wooo. **


	3. Chapter 3

Jason decided that the old house was, if not exactly cleanly or lived in, very interesting. Even though it smelled a little too much like dust and death for his tastes. He wondered if anyone actually had died here, or if that was just some side effect from being associated with Pluto. Hades. Whatever.

But left to his own devices while Nico regained his strength, he could examine all the cool little crannies of the house. Right then his attention was focused on a cabinet in the kitchen that turned out to be a door to a hidden staircase, which was narrow and full of cobwebs. He wouldn't really like to go up that way himself, but it was intriguing nonetheless.

He'd already looked through a few dozen sets of fancy china that could probably be sold for more than Piper's dad made in a year, even as a famous actor. But then again, if Nico hadn't touched it, he probably wanted it to stay that way. Really, it looked like he hadn't touched much of anything. Other than the dust and cobwebs, the place was in about the same condition it would have been eighty years ago.

And bringing his thoughts back around to his companion, he wondered if Nico had had enough rest yet. It had been what, fifteen, twenty minutes since he left? Surely that was enough. And even if it wasn't, he was getting kind of bored. And more than a little lonely.

"Hey, Nico!" he shouted, strolling back into the main room.

But Nico wasn't there.

First, there was fear. Jason's mind immediately went to monster attacks, kidnapping, possibly some sort of Austrian mafia, was there even an Austrian mafia, he didn't know… Oh, Jupiter, where was he?

He frantically searched the room, but it was just as it appeared. Nico was gone. Vanished. Jason wouldn't let himself think that the younger demigod had left alone. No, Nico wouldn't do anything of the sort… This was bad.

But there were a lot of rooms. And Nico knew the place better than he did, so it wouldn't be strange at all if he'd just gone somewhere else…

Jason tore through the house, checking one room after another. The house turned out to be even larger than he'd originally thought, with three levels and six or more secluded rooms per floor. He tried to be quiet about his search, just in case there was an Austrian pirate association or something, but his panic worked entirely against him in that regard. The sound of slamming doors and shuffled curtains reverberated through the house, punctuated with the occasional hacking fit whenever a surge of dust would come unexpected.

He didn't find Nico until he reached the top floor. Of course. And though it wasn't evil Austrian clowns, the sight that greeted him wasn't too pretty either.

It happened when he slammed open the third door on the left, top floor, just like he had every other. But this time, unlike the rest, he found a small figure shrouded in an oversized aviator jacket and shadow curled up near the center of the room. As soon as the form registered, relief flooded through him. And he realized that it wasn't just because he needed someone as a transport system. No, he was mostly glad that his friend was safe.

And even if it wasn't necessarily safe, because let's face it , demigods are never safe, he felt that he could at least have a fighting chance at protecting Nico now that they were together.

But he heard a sound that dislodged that one belief, a little second of a sound that came from the demigod curled into himself halfway leaning against a bedpost.

_Sob. _

And that was enough by itself to shatter Jason's heart. He got a better look at the younger boy.

Limbs, thinner than ever, curled around a slightly heaving torso. The dark haired head was tucked in, hiding his expression. The surrounding shadows seemed to tug at the thin frame, constricting and teasing around him in the dim moonlight that came through the dusty, cracked window.

The sobs came haltingly, choking through the body. They were sounds of pain, from countless levels between physical and emotional.

It hurt Jason's soul. Before he knew it, he was crouched on the floor too, reaching for a thin shoulder. Nico responded before he could get close enough to touch him.

"Grace! What- What're you doing here," he stuttered, the hostility in his voice draining out even before he could finish his sentence.

"Nico. Please. You can't be alone like this,"

But Nico was gone again as another sob racked through his lungs. He toppled into himself.

Jason heard him mutter a few words but couldn't make out most of it through the muffling aviator jacket that pressed against Nico's face.

"Bianca… Why…." Shudder. "No, I can't…" Sob. "Jar… Breathing… It's breathing all around…" Shiver. "It's dark… Cold…"

Jason inched closer. He wanted so badly to hug the smaller demigod, just to make all that suffering go away in any way he could. It was too much for him just to watch as Nico endured. He couldn't imagine the hell going through the other boy's head, which was now just inches away from him.

"Nico," he tried again. But his voice went unheard. Shreds of his own panic started to return when he realized that Nico had begun to hyperventilate. The shadows grew darker.

"Nico! Nico! Hey, come on, it's okay, it's okay," he rested a hand on the frail back. Nico's breathing slowed to a somewhat normal rate soon enough.

He looked up at Jason, revealing a tear streaked face, paler than normal, with dark circles surrounding slightly puffy eyes. Jason felt his soul crumple at the sight.

Nico must have detected some of the sympathy, because his eyes hardened and his quivering mouth drew into a straight line. The tears remained.

"Nico, I-"

But Nico was fast to pick up on the offensive after that, a feat requiring years of practice shutting people out.

"Just leave me alone! It's not like anyone else has a problem with doing that, so why should you? Just go. I'll be out to take you back to the ship in a minute."

"Nico,"

"Get out. Please. I- I don't want you to see this,"

That just made Jason angry. And a little hurt. He grabbed the arm farthest away from him and turned the boy to face him.

"Who do you think I am? Nico, I want to be your friend. I want to be there for you. Don't you get that? And 'being friends' means that I see all of you. Not just the parts that you want to share, or agree with letting me see."

"I never asked for a friend."

"Doesn't mean you don't want one. And if you still don't think you want one, you should know that you definitely need one."

Nico was silent for a few moments. He stared down at his jacket and avoided Jason's face.

"Jason, I just-"

Jason only had less than a second to appreciate the use of a first name when the moment was cut short by a deep rumbling and a crash above them. Not now, please, gods, not now…

No such luck. He doubted, at this point, the existence of luck.

With Nico piecing himself together at his side and his sword hundreds of miles away, he turned to face the thing that was currently slithering in through the cracked window.

**So, I lied. One additional chapter remains. Oops. Well, next time things won't be so angsty. Probably. See you then ;)**


	4. Chapter 4

Jason stared at the thing in disbelief. It was, of course, absurd that he could possibly expect _not_ to see a monster here; they were two children of the Big Three. Obviously they both attracted some attention in the monster world.

Regardless, the timing couldn't have been worse. And not to mention that this… thing was something he hadn't seen before. At least, he didn't think so, but at this rate he couldn't be sure.

He sent all the wind he could muster against the thing, wanting to blow it away, but it still came on. More slowly, but it wasn't stopped.

He'd thought, at first, the thing to be slithering, like a slimy specter or shadow, but when the dim moonlight gave away its form it became that of a human. Human-ish.

Jason reached behind him into the dark corners of the room _oh gods this was not his environment_ and grasped for something, anything that might be used as a means of distraction. He couldn't fight it without his sword, he couldn't charmspeak to it like Piper, he couldn't touch it with the mortal objects that surrounded them and Nico wasn't in any shape to shadow travel. A distraction was his only recourse. Hopefully the thing that crawled on four limbs slowly toward them and emitted a smell like mothballs and rotting flesh would be sentient enough to be distracted. Hopefully they wouldn't be killed immediately.

A voice, a sickening sound, hissed through the darkness.

"Hello little children," it whispered in a meditative manner, almost as if muttering to itself. "I see you in the corner."

As it went on, the voice morphed. It sounded like a monster at first, like a true nightmare would be expected to sound, but in the continuation it sounded more like a frog. And then, a woman.

"Who is it in the corner?" A low pitched rumble. "Little Jasey and Nico!" A girl's chastising tone.

Jason increased the strength of the wind all he could, which wasn't much.

His hands fumbled through the darkness. A small throw pillow, no, a bronze letter opener, wouldn't do. He shoved a little and yes, there was a closet behind them. More options. He could hear ragged breaths coming from the thing, closer, closer, but he couldn't hear it move or see anything but a shadow. Nico shivered behind him.

"I see you!" A giggling child. It sounded like they were playing hide and seek.

The monster drew into the moonlight from the window, which it'd been blocking up until now. It had large bat ears on either side of its head and its face, _its face_, was the part Jason couldn't work out. It changed every second or so, in time matching every other one of Jason's heartbeats. First it was a screaming baboon, then a child that looked familiar, then Frank, then a wolf, and so on. It kept getting more familiar to him, like the thing was getting accustomed to Jason personally. A hydra. His mother. Reyna.

It was half the small room away from he and Nico, crouched in the corner. Jason couldn't tell what was going through Nico's mind at that moment, or what Nico saw between the monster's giant ears, but whatever it was seemed to immobilize the younger demigod, although it also could've been related to the panic attack he just went through. Whatever the reason, it didn't look like Nico would be too helpful for this one.

He tried to push the boy behind him for protection as he continued to grope around for anything at all that could be used. He looked up again, and saw Annabeth's face. And it was Annabeth's voice he heard.

"You've been naughty, the two of you." It stayed on Annabeth, but something was slowly changing. The voice became shrill, the face pale and the eyes blank and void.

"Naughty, so naughty! Naughty naughty naughty children!" Jason realized that it was crawling with its belly facing the ceiling, but the face remained upright, with the neck twisted morbidly. The face, now a gruesome skeleton-Annabeth, rolled its eyes literally back into their sockets, leaving nothing but a black space, and opened its mouth wide in a silent scream. It crawled slowly, deliberately toward them, against Jason's wind. Jason didn't have much time here.

He searched his brain's library of mythology for some label to put on the face-changer. Nightmarish, talking about children, morphing its face, and the ears… He couldn't think of anything.

"_You should be punished, you naughty, rotten children._"

The voice was practically in his ear.


	5. Chapter 5

Jason felt helpless. And terrified. He couldn't stop this monster, _this horrifying face-flipping monster, _from coming ever closer, couldn't protect himself, couldn't protect Nico, and couldn't find a solution to this no matter how he looked at it.

Even before the ting came in, he'd been scared. He knew it. It wasn't that Nico scared him, he was as scared of Nico as he was of a puppy. Cute and timid, dangerous if provoked. No, he was afraid of the things about Nico that Nico hid from him, from the world. The things lurking in his mind… were far scarier than the façade he put on for the world. And Jason couldn't protect Nico from those things. He was defenseless against those, and it drove him mad.

And then this stupid thing came in and they were going to die, and then the whole world would end because they couldn't be there in the quest and Gaia would rise and there would never be any more happy endings because of this one bad ending. And it was all his fault.

Nico shifted behind him, pushing him to the side, grunting a little under Jason's weight.

"Nico what are y-"

"Stop fooling around, w-we need to get out of here."

"But you can't shadow travel-"

"Shut up."

Jason was about to go into a rant about Nico's safety, figuring if they were going to die it might as well be for the sake of a maternal rant about the risks of getting lost in the shadows forever. But Nico didn't do his usual 'dark and silent sacrifice' thing and lean into the darkness, but rather moved out and away from them. And toward the monster. And then, to Jason's utter bafflement, Nico started speaking to the thing, more or less calm and firm with the thing, despite his earlier state.

"Mormo. Go away, there are no children here to haunt anymore."

There was only a footstep's space between the monster and Nico, and Jason fought the urge to yank the Ghost King back into the shadows. Then he realized what was said.

"Mormo? You recognize this thing?"

"Yes, unfortunately. Mormo, sort of related to the empousai. It was a Greek fairy tale meant to scare little kids," Nico stated quietly back to Jason. Jason was surprised that Greek kids were ever bad at all if they had been threatened with this monstrosity. Seriously, this was a little harsh, even for the Greeks. The Romans didn't do things like this, they just left babies out to die. None of this awful terrifying nonsense.

Nico drew his mind's numb thoughts back to their situation as he addressed the monster again. "Go on. Get out of here."

"I see little Nico has been bad again. Where is his sister? The older girly with the strong spirit, protecting weak little Nico from the creatures in the dark. Did he bring another child in her place to protect him this time?" It had Percy's face, demonized like Annabeth's had been, and a woman's rasping voice.

"I don't need protection from you. Why are you here? It's been a very long time since we were around."

"I felt the scared little boy I used to haunt, the one who cried at night while his sister held him. The sister was more fun, though. Such a naughty child. So desperate to help her poor mother and little brother. So easily frightened, alone."

Jason saw the slightest tremor through Nico's legs, heard it in his breath. But the demigod stood, brave and tall. Jason was somehow proud. And also wanting to scoop Nico up and get the flying Jupiter _out of there_, but mostly proud.

"Aren't you a servant of Hecate? Why are you bothering us now? Your master would be displeased. You know that she's on our side now, right?"

The Mormo's face, now an olive-skinned woman with long, dark hair, scrunched up in disgust, like it had a bad taste in its mouth. Jason grasped that this was in all likelihood Nico's mother. He thought it a shame that he couldn't see her as she was in life, instead of this botched and contorted Mormo's reflection of her. He would've liked to have seen Nico's mother. It spoke with a woman's Italian-accented voice.

"Hecate is no fun. She is not invested in the children any longer, only the silly quest and that boat. Even before that, she was getting boring. I do not serve her."

"She protected you from the light. Have you found some other way of avoiding that, or are you just stupid?"

"I haunt and scare and punish in the dark, in the night. No light no light no light for me!"

Jason, at that moment, finally found something in the closet. It was cylindrical, plastic… A flashlight. Oh, this was beautiful. He whistled softly to Nico and held it so that it was hidden from the monster's view. Nico looked back casually, nodded once, and then quickly returned to face the enemy.

"Jason, that won't work. Iron has no effect against these things, do your homework once in a while."

"And what has little Nico been up to lately? Oh, he's been naughty naughty naughty. Killing and stealing and hating. Poor Nico, he's so dark. So black and shriveled and bare inside, so desperate."

Nico started a countdown on shaking fingers behind his back, starting at five. Jason understood the plan.

"What hurts more, losing your sister or knowing you caused it? Or, perhaps, knowing that precious Percy had a hand in it. Precious precious Percy, so dear to little Nico."

The fingers went down. Four…Three…

"Does he seek something from precious Percy? Something he could get from little Jasey? A protector? A companion? Too bad that poor Nico is too dark. Too scarred and naughty for anyone to want. Pathetic little Nico-"

One.

Jason flashed the light directly in the face of a bleeding Bianca. It seized up immediately, a blank skull taking place between its bat ears instead of the cruel masks, and its twisted body staggered backwards, tripping over itself. Nico gathered the shadows to that spot, the floorboards altering into a pool of darkness, and Mormo fell in.

It closed, presumably without an opening on the other side.

In the sudden silence, they both waited for a minute. For something to wrong again, probably, as it usually does, but it was a minute of nothing. Silence, good silence. They were both breathing heavily, hearts beating furiously, but they were alive. The improbable victors again, Nico standing dumbly by the place where the Mormo disappeared and Jason still planted in the corner. Nico tapped his foot on the floor, as if to make sure it was steady, and then spoke.

"It's okay if I'm too tired to open that up somewhere, for now. I'll drop it later. Let it be lost to the shadows for a while, save some poor kid a night of that torment."

"You can't just leave it there? Y'know, forever?"

"Not if I don't want it to pop in while I'm shadow traveling somewhere. That would be awful. No, but I will try to put him at the North Pole if I can. Twenty four hours of sunlight this time of year," he ended with an evil grin. Jason couldn't help but agree. He needed to ask something, though, before anything else. His expression became serious, cautious, as he continued. He got up and went over to Nico's side, bringing suspicion into the younger's features. Jason asked anyway.

"…Nico, are you alright? After all that?"

Clearly not what Nico had been expecting. The younger boy paused, considering a snarky remark. The grin drooped. He swallowed hard and looked at Jason, then looked away as he answered softly.

"No."

Jason did what he could. It wasn't much. He wrapped his arm around Nico, and immediately the other demigod's knees gave out. Jason supported them both and flew out to the rooftop through the open window. It was a cool summer night, and the clouds had covered the moon but not the stars.

And there they sat, looking over the town and the stars, feet hanging over the edge. For the first hour, they sat in silence.

Nico, when he was ready to talk, spoke first.

"I'm actually not angry that you came tonight. It turned out okay."

"'Okay'? We could've died."

"Yeah, but when is that not the case? However things were, it was more or less better that you were here."

"Well, I'm not upset that you dragged me into this. Since we didn't actually die."

"I did not 'drag you into this', you came without permission."

"Technicalities."

"You moron."

They paused as a group of teenagers passed by, completely drunk and yelling loudly in a language Jason probably would never understand. Then they sat in comfortable silence for a while longer.

"So."

"So what?" Nico looked back at him. Not annoyed, not curious. Just giving moderate and tolerating attention.

"Why exactly was there a plastic, modern flashlight in a building that hasn't been touched since prehistoric times?"

"…I don't have the slightest clue."

"But you're the only one who's been there in the last millennia, otherwise it wouldn't be such a mess."

"It's not a mess, it's just… old… and I didn't want to touch anything."

"Whatever you say. But a flashlight sure didn't belong there."

"Shut up, Grace."

"Ooh, we've gone back to last names; I must be on to something," Jason laughed.

"You are on to nothing. Shut your face."

"Was it you? Are you admitting that the shadows can't do everything?"

"…"

"The Ghost King uses a flashlight! This is perfect irony, Nico, perfect."

"Well you couldn't do much there by yourself, flyboy."

They both laughed, and Nico nearly fell off the roof with the force of it. Jason swooped down and caught him, but that only made Nico laugh harder.

"Gods, you _are_ such a superman cutout!"

"Well that makes you Lois Lane, you know," Jason put in.

"Shut it, Grace."

* * *

They were back on the ship by sunrise. Nico retreated to his room, as per usual, and they acted as if nothing had changed. Jason went to breakfast with Piper, who commented on the bags under his eyes and the slight smile that remained, but all was normal other than that.

Except, of course, the times when Jason would listen outside Nico's room to see what he was doing or the times when he heard not-alright sounds inside and came in to get Nico through the worst of it. And then there were the times when they would sit up in the crow's nest and talk, or when Jason would nag Nico to eat properly. And even later, when they talked on the roof of the Zeus Cabin or on the shore of the lake at Camp Half-Blood.

Because Jason finally figured out how he could get through to Nico's demons, and to Nico himself. And that was all they needed.

It took years before Jason finally realized that Nico was the only person he actually talked earnestly with anymore. Piper and he had broken up, not able to deal with a romance fabricated by Juno from the start. And really, at that point, Nico was practically living in his cabin to begin with (they'd both grown tired of their big empty cabins and traveling back and forth to see each other) so he asked Nico to stay with him, permanently. Nico responded by blushing furiously and shadow traveling away, but later came back and said that of course he would, moron. Then Jason bent down and kissed him on the forehead. They sat by the fire all night, even when Nico fell asleep on Jason's shoulder.

They were happy.

**There it is. The end. **


End file.
